Clipping his nails...

that's the most daunting task I find till day.

Every week for the past seven months I have been doing it at-least once a week and still I find it so laborious.

When he was just born, I used to wonder what to do with his nails, he was so fragile then ,I couldn't dream of clipping it with clippers...And with loads of advise from all kinds of people...I kept wondering what's the best way to do it.

Some suggested to gently bite off his nails with my teeth..with no disrespect to the others who do it, I find the idea quite revolting.I know a lot of people have the habit of biting their own nails, but I have never given such brutal treatment to my nails , infact I had beautifully manicured and shaped nails for most of my life .....now's a different story...no wonder that's how I feel about biting nails, specially if it were my baby's.

While some other's suggested me to clip them when he was nursing...I know a good friend who does that.Nothing wrong with that ...suits a lot of people, but didn't suit me.And also cause of another reason, the person who suggested the idea,she's not in my good books.Still it's not that I rejected the idea outright...but cause my baby is very active even when he's enjoying his feed , he wouldn't keep still for more than few seconds.And in that if I were to try to cut his nails then, the distraction would be too much for him to handle.

Filing was also suggestion , but filing I feel can hurt the lil one's finger even if done with very tender baby nail fillers.

When he was just born , after two or three weeks, I started covering his hands in mittens to save him from scratching himself, and so soft were his nails that occasionally they would come off on its own!

Couple of times I thought of clipping them, thankfully I didn't cause when I spoke to the pediatrician, he advised me to wait for 10 weeks, the time till when he would have his tetanus shots and then clip the nails.Tetanus shots are very common in India.

The best way that came to my mind was clip them when he was fast asleep.That's the time when there would be the least resistance from him and least chances of getting hurt.
Still remember the first time I cut his nails, while he was sleeping I managed to trim well all his nails of one hand but while I was cutting the other hand's nails , accidentally I grazed a bit of his skin of his ring finger, a very tiny drop of blood oozed out , one like you get with the prick of a rose thorn.I got upset and started crying looking at his tiny finger....cursing myself that I hurt my baby :( Thankfully it was just a very tiny prick, but I still feel guilty about it!

The next time , I was more cautious and am still very cautious till this day.

I have tried to clip them with scissors too , but with scissors , I find they leave a very sharp edge that needs filing.

Some tricks that I have discovered over time:

Clipping after baby's bath.After a bath his nails are soft and easy to cut.He usually goes into deep sleep after a bath followed by feed.

I usually run the clipper under the nail before cutting and keep it tilted up to avoid cutting any skin that sticks to the nail.

I wait for almost a week for the nails to grow a descent length ,not long enough to
scratch himself but long enough to be easily clipped.

Ooh..just found this guide while surfing..I am on the right track!!!

Guess would have to keep doing this till he grows big enough to understand that he has to stay still when his nails are being clipped !

One day when I read this post ,when he's grown up I know I am gonna miss these moments too!